1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a novel method and apparatus for skimming pools of oil and other liquid hydrocarbon compounds from water, particularly in water where wave action is present.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior structures of this type are best represented by the disclosure of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,539,508, 3,546,112, 3,617,555 and 3,643,804.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,508, a pair of spaced rollers are rotated in a counter clockwise direction and moved into an oil spill. One of the rollers has a smooth oleophilic surface and the other has a porous deformable surface. Heavy oil is supposed to cling to the smooth oleophilic surface of the one roller and the light oil remaining being soaked up by the porous roller. The scraper blade engaging the smooth roller provides for the separation of oil therefrom and rollers compressing the porous material of the other roller remove oil therefrom.
In the present invention, an absorbable material, such as a thick mat of loosely woven fibers with multiple air spaces therein, collects oil from the water when the roller moves in counter clockwise rotation into and over an oil spill and a blade removes the oil from the absorbent material when the blade is engaged thereagainst and the roller revolved in a clockwise direction.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,112, an absorption oil skimmer is disclosed having a porous surface and rollers for compressing or distorting the porous surface to remove oil therefrom.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,555, an endless belt has a brush-like surface with a plurality of projecting bristles for ensnaring debris and picking up oil. Debris and oil are removed by a scrapper and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,804 an endless belt having an affinity for oil is trained over rollers so that a portion of the belt moves into and upwardly out of an oil spill and conveys the oil to a discharge point.
None of the prior art provides any apparatus which will operate when there is any wave action which is a common condition in oil spills in the open sea.
The present disclosure, while utilizing a buoyant roller which is partially submerged in the water and moves into and through an oil spill thereon, is enclosed in a substantially large breakwater through which water and the oil of the oil spill readily move while the breakwater reduces the wave action and permits the roller to effectively collect the spilled oil. In calm seas, forward portions of the portable breakwater are movable outwardly, oppositely away from one another and form buoyant guides serving to direct increased quantities of oil in an oil spill into the area of the collection roller.